Nagin Re-Colors History With Book About Katrina and New Orleans

Ray Nagin was elected as Mayor of New Orleans with strong support of the white community. He was supposed to be a business executive who would reform City Hall. He claimed he would launch a worldwide search for the best and brightest staffers. In reality, the Nagin years were a total nightmare for the citizens of New Orleans, who came to realize that the Mayor was a total fraud.

His business experience consisted of a do nothing position with Cox Cable. His reforms were only in his imagination and his first class staff consisted of felons, such as Greg Meffert and Anthony Jones and phonies like Kimberly Williamson Butler. In short, Nagin was a disaster and left office with a 26 percent approval rating, the lowest in the history of New Orleans polling.

Today, he is trying to rehabilitate his image with his self-published book, “Katrina’s Secrets.” In the book, Nagin shifts responsibility to leaders in neighboring parishes, accuses others of racism and refuses to account for his full litany of errors. While he does admit to some mistakes, he does not acknowledge the sheer magnitude of his ineptitude.

Incredibly, Nagin claims that “our footprints, our fingerprints are all over the recovery.” In fact, the recovery was stalled by a Nagin recovery team that was led by a buffoon, Ed Blakely, who resided in Australia. Blakely boasted that the city would be filled with “cranes in the sky,” but instead his poor leadership prevented a robust recovery.

Ultimately, the blames falls on Nagin, the genius who hired Blakely, Meffert and Williamson Butler. No matter how poorly his staff members acted, Nagin proved to be worse.

Nagin continually embarrassed this city with inane comments, such as his “chocolate city” speech. He succeeded in polarizing the community and won re-election by running against the supposed white “shadow government” of New Orleans.

Nagin gave us excuses instead of leadership. While he was pointing fingers, other Mayors were moving their cities forward. It is a real disgrace that he is still engaged in the same sort of blame shifting today and trying to profit from his Katrina fantasies.

As the Mayor during the worst hurricane in New Orleans history, Nagin was dealt a very tough situation. Instead of seizing it as an opportunity to improve New Orleans, Nagin resorted to base political instincts.

It is a shame that people are buying Nagin’s book and financially supporting a person who did so much to harm New Orleans. He claims that he is now in the business of “disaster consulting,” which is ironic. I guess it takes one to know one, for Nagin is a true disaster.

-- Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m.weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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